All strength is inseparable from time and people, and Jin Province Arsenal is no exception.
The history of the Jin Province Arsenal is not short in China. Forty years ago, it was during the reign of the Da Zhuidi Dynasty, that is, in the 24th year of Guangxu's reign, on the temple grounds of Qianfo Temple surrounded by cypress trees outside the Xiaobei Gate of the original city, the then Jin Province
The governor Hu Pinzhi founded the Jin Provincial Machinery Bureau, which mainly manufactured arms.
It was this mechanical bureau that was so simple that it only had five lathes, two drill presses, one planer, and one 35-horsepower horizontal steam engine. It not only created a precedent for Jin Province to be able to make its own weapons, but also opened up a new era for the barren and isolated Jin Province.
The beginning of modern machinery industry.
However, due to lack of greater support, this Machinery Bureau could only repair firearms and produce some simple rifles. Until the revolution broke out, the Shanxi old man became the governor of Shanxi Province and took over the province for six years.
After making a profit of 2 million yuan from the production of Jin Province copper coins, all of the 2 million yuan was used to expand arms production. This small workshop, formerly known as the Machinery Bureau, became a real arsenal.
However, at this time, the Yuancheng Arsenal was still mainly imitating and had no systematic design of its own. The biggest reason was not the lack of mechanical equipment or the lack of raw materials, but the high cost, and imitations were more expensive than imported ones.
This is just like the future car market. Purely imported ones are cheaper than domestically produced ones, while domestically produced ones have only been produced for a few years, and product quality cannot be guaranteed. If you were a consumer, what would you choose? It is estimated to be 100%
Ninety-nine consumers will vote with their feet!
And a hot and magical man Yin was born out of nowhere!
Of course, the man named Zhang Kai didn't just pop out of a rock. He was a top student in chemistry at Kyushu Imperial University in Japan. He was hired by an old man from Shanxi to work as a technician in an arsenal with a high salary.
Generally speaking, the pride of heaven is very arrogant, but Zhang Kai is different from most geniuses. Not only does he have a good foundation, but he is also extremely low-key, so low-key that almost everyone can ignore him and just concentrate on his research.
I have to praise the old man from Shanxi who has no bottom line here. Don’t look at the fact that the old man has a thick heart and a thick face when collecting money. He is also very lustful. Even his own aunt will not let him go. In the future, calling him a scumbag will only be a compliment to him.
But this person is indeed very discerning and very good at discovering talents.
Through the reports submitted by his confidants, the Shanxi old man simply analyzed that Zhang Kai was a talent, so he entrusted him with an important task and asked him to research the formula of ammonium nitrate explosives.
Of course, there is also a little thought of the Shanxi old man in this. Before this, a technical expert in the already prosperous Yuancheng Arsenal developed an ammonium nitrate explosive formula.
That technical guru is no ordinary person. He used to be a translator for German engineers at the Hanyang Arsenal. Later, because he didn’t understand many professional terms at work, he taught himself chemistry and became a chemical expert. He was poached to Yuancheng by an old man from Shanxi with a high salary.
After the arsenal, he also served as the chief of the bullet department and other important positions.
The high cost of explosives in Yuancheng Arsenal has always been a worry for Shanxi Old Man, and it is also the main reason that restricts its ammunition production volume. Therefore, Shanxi Old Man invested heavily in developing explosive formulas.
Finally, after more than a year, this one was done. Logically speaking, should the old Shanxi man laugh?
But the old man from Shanxi was not an ordinary person, he could be regarded as a tycoon of his generation. There was a couplet hanging next to his bed, "Treat others like a gentleman, and guard against others like a villain!" This was also his motto.
In order to control the materials and costs and prevent the factory from underquoting more, he asked the technical master to estimate the production. As a result, the technician thought that no one knew the formula for making explosives, so he could enjoy the exclusive benefits, so he quoted the quantity per pound.
The contract price is eighty cents.
The old man from Shanxi should have been delighted when he heard that this quotation was half the price of Pickering dynamite. However, this man was wary of everyone and always felt that he might be deceived, so he did not start full-scale production. Instead, he found this time
Zhang Kai, who was still unknown, gave him the explosives and asked him to do reverse research and development.
Thus, the nationally famous "Kaizi Dynasty" was born in Yuancheng Arsenal.
Compared to the technical master, what price did Zhang Kai quote?
One pound of ingredients costs less than 30 cents, which is only one-fifth of the foreign formula.
The old Shanxi man was overjoyed. Not only did he allow Zhang Kai to contract production for 30 cents, but he also merged the seven branches of the arsenal, including the nitric acid plant, the smokeless medicine plant, the black powder, and the press into a gunpowder factory, and made Zhang Kai the director of the factory.
Zhang Kai is also very worthy of the Shanxi old man's kindness. While developing the gunpowder factory into a boom, he constantly improved the technology, tapped the potential to improve production efficiency, and successively developed new products such as 'quick burning smokeless powder'
.
The drastic drop in the cost of gunpowder has become the basis for the sharp increase in the ammunition output of the Yuancheng Arsenal, including machine rifle bullets, artillery shells, bombs, ramrods, hand grenades, etc.
The money was making more and more like a snowball. By 1926, the Yuancheng Arsenal, which continued to invest a lot of money, could produce rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, mountain cannons, field guns, mortars and even heavy artillery. It became a tripartite with Hanyang Arsenal and Shenyang Arsenal.
At this time, the number of workers reached more than 15,000 at its peak.
Jin-made weapons were recognized as one of the best equipment in China at that time.
After 15 years, the old Shanxi man who took control of Shanxi Province finally developed a small workshop into a large-scale arsenal that was at the forefront of Asia at the time. While making himself a steady stream of money, he also had a sufficient sense of security.
A super arsenal could naturally provide enough weapons for the Jin army at that time. While other warlords were still short of guns and artillery, the Jin army had at least one artillery battalion in every infantry division.
During the Battle of Xinkou, the old Shanxi man who was forced to reveal part of his family fortune even dragged ten artillery regiments to the front line. That was more than 360 artillery pieces! At that time, the fifth Japanese army known as the "Steel Army" faced the Chinese army.
The division was stunned by the overwhelming artillery shells.
If this was not in China's Jin Province but in the three northeastern provinces, they would definitely think they were facing a woolly bear.
These cannons are not just showy, they can really kill people. During the entire Jin Provincial War, the Chinese army lost more than 200,000 people and suffered heavy losses. However, the Japanese did not just retreat. According to statistics after the war, only in
After promotion, the Japanese North China Front suffered more than 70,000 casualties in the battle.
Don’t underestimate these 70,000 people. During the entire Great Patriotic War, excluding the Indo-Burmese battlefield and the Kwantung Army’s heavy losses at the hands of Mao Xiong, the Japanese army only lost a total of 440,000 soldiers.
Of course, the bloody battles of various Chinese ministries in the mountainous areas of Jin Province contributed to this, but the large number of artillery equipped by the Jin army definitely contributed.
The value of war is money, and this has definitely been confirmed here in Shanxi Province. The old man from Shanxi has saved up his capital for 20 years, which is really no small matter.
I got off track, let’s get back to the topic!
It stands to reason that the key for a talent like Zhang Kai who can do both research and management well is not to be greedy. Isn’t that what colleges and universities will ask for in the future for principals? If the Minister of Education had such talent under his command, he would not be able to sleep happily at night.
Can't sleep?
No matter how stupid the Shanxi old man is, he will never take action against such talents and heroes, right? Besides, the birds are not gone yet, what kind of bow is there to hide!
In fact, Zhang Kai accidentally touched the old man from Jin Province.
"You can touch my women, but you must not touch my money!" Although Lao Xi of Jin Province did not hang these two sentences directly in front of his bed, this is what he did for decades.
That was before the Central Plains War. As the arsenal was growing bigger and bigger, Zhang Kai suggested to the old man in Shanxi to open a second gunpowder factory. To put it bluntly, he wanted to expand the scale.
According to Zhang Kai's design, once this factory is completed, it will be able to produce 2 tons of smokeless powder, 10 tons of contact oleum, 3 tons of nitric acid, 3 tons of alcohol, etc. per day. If it can be completed, plus the output of the old factory, Yuancheng
The arsenal is designed to defeat the two opponents of Hanyang and Shenyang. Bullets, artillery shells, explosive packs, grenades, and mines are all of the type that can be made.
In Zhang Kai's words, as long as the Shanxi old man wanted to, the landmines manufactured by the Yuancheng Arsenal could lay a minefield around the border of Shanxi Province. Unless he had wings, no one could get in.
This made the Shanxi old man extremely happy. He has been doing business for so many years. He is not afraid of losing money but is afraid of making too much money and being remembered by others. Lao Chen from Guangdong Province, Lao Li from Guangdong Province, Lao Zhang from Fengxi Province, that one is not a helper
Fierce and evil?
If we can be so good at manufacturing, why are we afraid of what those old gangsters will do!
Even though the construction cost was as high as millions of dollars, the old man from Shanxi still waved his hand towards such a beautiful blueprint and got it done!
The old man from Shanxi did not take it seriously. He had one meeting every three days and one small meeting every day. He almost focused on the production efficiency of this modern gunpowder factory. The early stage was very smooth. The factory buildings and office areas have been built. They are just waiting for the arrival from Germany.
Imported equipment has arrived.
If nothing goes wrong, there will be an accident soon.
The Central Plains War began.
When all the warlords are fighting against each other, how can the Shanxi old man, as the boss of Jin Province, survive alone? Even if he doesn't take sides, he still has to choose a camp! What's more, who says that the Shanxi old man just wants to farm quietly without having a heart to compete in the Central Plains?
"Princes, generals, and ministers, I would rather farm!" The old man from Shanxi also has the ambition to expand farming to the whole of China!
Therefore, the Shanxi old man was gearing up and planned to fight with the Jin army he had spent a lot of money to build.
Everyone knows the final outcome. At that moment, the principal had an aura similar to that of a protagonist. Old Chen, Old Li, Old Zhang, Old Feng, and Old Yan were all just supporting characters.
It doesn't matter if we lose, as long as the base remains and we develop it for another twenty years, I don't believe we can win. The old man from Shanxi still has a strong heart.
However, the reality is cruel.
The German company that accepted the equipment deposit ran away for unknown reasons!
It doesn't matter if this company runs away, the deposit paid for running away is half of the equipment cost! This will cost the life of the old Shanxi man.
He couldn't chase the treacherous bitch back across the ocean to skin him and light the sky lantern, but he could arrest the hot-tempered man who came up with the idea and was responsible for the project.
The angry Shanxi old man didn't show any respect for his talents at that time, and directly threw his best explosives engineer and factory director into prison.
The reason why he didn't chop off his head on the spot is probably because the old man from Shanxi still imagined that one day the Germanic man would show up. Whether he could get the equipment was another matter. He could just refund half of the money! Zhang Kai, the guy responsible for contacting him, was still there for the time being.
You have to save your head.
Unexpectedly, he spent more than ten years in prison. Based on the basic idea of squeezing out the last bit of value to repay his losses, the old Shanxi man just built a chemistry laboratory for Zhang Kai in the prison and let him study during the day.
I continued to work on the floor of the prison at night without being paid.
The only thing that gives Zhang Kai some hope is that his family can be reunited with him in the cell for one day every month.
For this rare day, Zhang Kai could only immerse himself in research in the laboratory. However, perhaps because he was depressed after all, his scientific research output was very low. In the past ten years, he has only provided a limited number of information on artillery fuses, etc.
The invention is far inferior to his nationally famous "Kaizi Dynasty".
Of course, Tang Dao learned some details about this famous gunpowder engineer in Jin Province from the unlucky director who was punished to stand for a day.
Tang Dao only vaguely remembered that there was such a number one person. He was persecuted and imprisoned by Shanxi old men because of the failure to build the factory. Now, the Dakouzidong Arsenal has many leaders and talents in mechanical forging and processing, but there are no great talents in the chemistry department.
, leading to Tang Dao’s idea of incendiary bombs that can be used for mortars and mountain cannons, and so far they have not even remained on paper.
Such a chemistry major with a solid chemical foundation and management skills is exactly the talent that Dakouzidong Arsenal needs most.
The unfortunate Director's eyes were opened that afternoon.
After spending so many years with the old man in Shanxi, he had seen some rich people, but it was the first time that a small group leader like Tang Dao was so rich and rich.
This time, Tang Dao spent a lot of money to purchase arms from the Jin Provincial Ordnance Department. Not to mention expensive weapons such as mountain cannons and mortars, just talking about various bullets, Tang Dao’s order was as high as 2 million rounds. According to 7 cents
Counting one round, the total price was as high as 140,000 oceans, and nearly half of the 5 million rounds of ammunition in the Ordnance Department's inventory were sold out in one go.
There are also some heavyweights. Jin made 75 mountain cannons for 8,000 oceans each. Tang Dao ordered 24 of them at once, with a total price of 192,000 oceans. Mountain cannon shells cost 20 oceans each. Tang Dao ordered 10,000 of them, with a total price of 200,000 oceans.
;
The Oerlikon 20mm cannon is an imported product. Not to mention that the two branches cannot manufacture it now, even the original factory cannot manufacture it. But it doesn't matter. As long as you give the money, you can take it from the existing army and sell it.
That’s it.
It turns out that the Jinsui Army invested a lot. Almost every infantry regiment is equipped with Oerlikon 20mm machine guns. Now the downsizing is so severe that many machine guns are vacant. What's wrong with turning them into cash?
However, you will buy it at whatever price you originally bought it for, and no bargaining will be accepted.
I'm sorry, I've wasted several years in vain! This old man from Shanxi is doing an amazing job.
The local tycoon Tang Dao agreed without blinking an eyelid. These 24 Oerlikon 20mm machine guns alone were worth another 160,800 oceans. With the addition of 24,000 shells, another 240,000 oceans were gone.
The moment Tang Dao agreed, the unfortunate director's heart ached for him.
Finally, including the 100,000 yuan for packing old equipment and the 16,000 yuan for 200 tons of raw materials, the total transaction value is as high as 1.96 million yuan. The reason why it is a round number is really unlucky that the director thinks that the local tycoons are too "unfashionable" and makes the decision himself.
It's erased.
The profit earned from such a large transaction is by no means less than hundreds of thousands of dollars. Tang Dao asked such a "waste", how could the unfortunate director know everything he said?
Even when Tang Dao later made further unreasonable requests and asked for money to redeem him, this man still agreed with patting his chest.
It seems that there is no more oil to be squeezed out. Finally, the waste will be recycled into an ocean of 10,000 yuan. Isn’t it delicious?
So, with the unlucky director's operation and the Shanxi old man nodding his approval, Tang Dao met the engineer in a cell that was not strict and even a little rough.
When Tang Dao explained his intention, the uncle, who had some gray hair on his temples, only made one condition: "If you save my family, my life will be yours."
Before the defeat of the defense battle of Yuancheng, various departments of Yuancheng had already begun a large-scale retreat. They did not forget to take this "waste" with them. At least he could still squeeze some oil, but his family was not so indispensable.
.
Therefore, Zhang Kai knew that his family was trapped in the Japanese-occupied area on the way.
However, this man, who had been in prison for more than ten years and whose character had been tempered, was as strong as steel. After learning the news, he did not cry out for life and death, but buried it in his heart until Tang Dao asked him for help, and in
After he asked about Tang Dao's identity and found out that he was also the leader of the regiment, he made this an exchange.
Yuancheng is the largest city in Jin Province, and the Si Xing Regiment wants to live a prosperous life in the battlefield behind enemy lines in Jin Province. Sooner or later, an intelligence agency will be built there. After Tang Dao was silent for a moment and calculated the pros and cons, he agreed to this person's only condition.
However, because the Japanese army suffered huge losses in Yuancheng, they also ravaged the people of Yuancheng for a while after conquering Yuancheng. Tang Dao also explained to this person that even if he sent people there, there was no guarantee that they would be able to pick them up alive.
"Captain Tang, don't worry. Because of me, Ji Nei and Quan Zi are smarter than ordinary people. They must still be alive. Commander Tang, your people will find them according to the address I gave them, and they will definitely be found."
The grizzled uncle was extremely confident.
Xia Dayu on the other hand just wanted to pout, and because of you, how come you are so awesome and have been in prison for more than ten years?
"Well, as long as the person is still there, Tang Dao guarantees with military honor that he will be brought to you alive." Tang Dao nodded.
"I believe in Captain Tang's character!" The uncle also nodded solemnly.
He is in prison, but he is not an ordinary prisoner. A newspaper is read to him every few days. There is nothing else in the prison. It is common to read a newspaper over and over ten times. The story of Tang Dao, he
Even more clearly than many Jin-Sui troops.
At this time, Tang Dao didn't know how much of a surprise his ten thousand oceans had brought him.
How terrible is it for a chemical engineer who has been in prison for more than ten years, or can be said to have been working quietly in a well-equipped laboratory for more than ten years!
You know, his dream over the years is to use very little explosives to blow up a prison that is heavily guarded and has high walls.
