After several days of rest and recuperation for each unit of the New Second Regiment, the soldiers' condition gradually recovered, and the training of each company gradually got back on track.
Especially the reserve battalion, the combat effectiveness has changed significantly. Zhou Weihan selected the weapons and equipment seized from the puppet troops and allocated them to the reserve battalion, and separately supplemented each company with one Type 92 heavy machine gun and two light machine guns.
The companies in the reserve battalion have basically been replenished. They were veterans who came off the battlefield, and their combat effectiveness has been restored quickly.
Zhou Weihan was very restless, and the search for a few skilled workers that he had been hiding in his heart could finally be put on the agenda.
The New Second Regiment has established a repair shop some time ago. The personnel are selected from veterans who were injured and disabled in previous battles. At present, they can only reassemble a new rifle from several damaged rifles. Just like this
The new rifle industry requires two or three people and an hour to complete.
Dismantling all the damaged rifles into parts, taking advantage of the fact that all parts of the same rifle can be used interchangeably, finding the good parts and reassembling a new rifle, thus reducing the technical requirements to a minimum.
But the reality is that due to limited production levels, many rifles produced by the same production line have different parts and components. As a result, the efficiency of the New Second Regiment's repair shop has not been improved, not to mention that there are hundreds of parts alone.
machine gun.
Zhou Weihan understands that gun repair is a technical job and requires specialized personnel to do it. Many rifles are damaged because of a simple part, and the repair shop cannot repair them.
It is best to find a blacksmith or fitter with a higher level of skill to reshape or process the parts.
Now the place where the New Second Regiment is resting happens to be not far from Taiyuan, only separated by JZ City. It is the best time to find skilled workers.
Zhou Weihan made a prompt decision, summoned several company commanders, held a meeting, and explained the follow-up work.
"Captain, when you mentioned this, I remembered that there were several skilled workers in a town in Shouyang County, my hometown, who were working in the Taiyuan Arsenal. I just don't know if they returned to their hometown after the fall of Taiyuan.
" said Han Zhiqian, commander of the fourth company of the reserve battalion.
Hearing that Weihan was so happy this week, why did he forget about it? He immediately asked each company to go back and look for local soldiers who knew relevant clues.
You may not know, but there is a soldier in the Fourth Company of the Reserve Battalion. An uncle of his family was once a technical backbone of the Taiyuan Arsenal and now lives in Taiyuan.
A soldier from the fifth company of the reserve battalion was from the Industrial Guards and knew the residences of several former workers.
Finally, Zhou Weihan decided to divide his troops into three groups: "I will personally take the people to Taiyuan, Han Zhiqian will go to your hometown Shouyang County, and Gao Zhiheng will take the people to the Jinzhong area. No matter whether we find the people or not, we must be back in half a month at the latest."
"
Before leaving, Zhou Weihan said to everyone: "We are the Eighth Route Army. The first thing we should pay attention to is discipline. We cannot force others. I will give each of your teams a settlement allowance of two thousand yuan. If you want people to follow our Eighth Route Army, you must not treat them badly."
"
The three teams set off separately. Zhou Weihan took Dong Jiang, Li Dayong, Wei Dayong and other ten people disguised as a caravan selling mountain goods and headed for Taiyuan.
The closer they got to Taiyuan, the more stringent the interrogation became. Plainclothes teams often appeared in the town below. In order to prevent being targeted, Zhou Weihan and others buried the long guy outside Taiyuan City and hid the short gun under the carriage.
Taiyuan was once the territory of Yan Laoxi.
Although Yan Laoxi has a poor reputation, he still made a lot of contributions to the development of industry and education.
Just like the Taiyuan Arsenal he ordered to establish is the only large-scale arsenal in the country that can be compared with the arsenal founded by Zhang Zuolin. Even the arsenal under the Chairman of the Generalissimo cannot be compared with it in terms of weapons manufacturing!
In October 1936, before the outbreak of the all-out Anti-Japanese War, the factories affiliated to the Machinery Management Department of Northwest Industrial Company were renamed Northwest Manufacturing Plant and were divided into 18 branches, all of which were transferred to military production.
There are more than 8,000 workers and 4,300 machines. The maximum monthly output is 3,000 79 rifles, 800 65 rifles, 600 light machine guns, 90 heavy machine guns, 150 mortars, 80,000 mortar shells, and 300,000 hand grenades.
There are 1.5 million rounds of various artillery shells and bullets, and 123 tons of various gunpowders. It also produces mountain artillery, field artillery, heavy artillery and other heavy weapons.
It is a pity that as the Japanese army captured Taiyuan, everything in the arsenal became Japanese!
In October 1937, the arsenal hurriedly organized more than 500 workers to start the difficult relocation work, moving major machines and valuable materials to Fenglingdu and Shaanxi. After hard work, more than 500 pieces of equipment were gradually shipped out, accounting for about 10% of the northwest manufacturing plant.
One-fifth of all assets.
Later, he settled in Xingping near Xi'an, Guozhen near Baoji, Chenggu near Hanzhong and Guangyuan in northern Sichuan. He broke it into pieces and set up factories step by step. He began to repair guns and gradually manufactured rifles, light machine guns and grenades.
etc., supporting the Anti-Japanese War. However, large heavy weapons such as mountain artillery, field artillery, large-caliber heavy artillery, etc. can no longer be produced.
On November 8, Taiyuan fell, and the Japanese invaders occupied the northwest manufacturing plant. They dismantled and packed more than 3,500 pieces of machinery and equipment that had not yet been moved, and shipped them to Tokyo, Osaka, Japan, Northeast China and other places in June 1938.
All the mechanical equipment purchased with countless efforts and money were demolished by the little devils. Those skilled technicians also fled to death, and the good arsenal was turned into ruins.
The Japs have occupied Taiyuan for more than two years. Under the pressure of the Japs, Taiyuan has gradually regained some of its former prosperity, but the slaves who have subjugated their country have had a hard time.
"We are about to enter the city, please calm down." Zhou Weihan said. A few hours ago, a few people just killed several plainclothes teams who bullied the people outside Taiyuan City. Fortunately, no guns were used. Otherwise, they would have been killed earlier.
Fleeed for his life.
The puppet troops stationed at the city gate had long noticed Zhou Weihan and others who were queuing up to enter the city. Qian Er, the leader of the puppet platoon leader, immediately said: "Have you seen these people? There is a lot of oil and water at a glance, Xiao Shuan."
Son, take a few people with you and conduct a thorough cross-examination."
"Platoon leader, these people are not easy to mess with at first glance. Let's not get into trouble." Xiao Shuanzi said with a guilty conscience when he saw the tall and powerful Zhou Weihan and others.
Platoon leader Qian Er was furious after hearing this, and immediately kicked Xiao Shuanzi over: "Why do I have a useless nephew like you? Who dares to cause trouble under the noses of the Japanese? Just watch." As he said this, he led the people towards Zhou Weihan.
et al.
"You guys, let's just talk about you, where are you looking?" Qian Er straightened his hat, took out the pistol from his waist, and said to Zhou Weihan and others.
Zhou Weihan gave Li Dabenji a wink, and Li Dabenji stepped forward, grabbed the money, and said with a smile on his face: "Sir, we came from Wuyi to resell mountain goods. We are good people." He took out his pocket.
He handed the good citizen certificate inside to Qian Er and stuffed five ocean dollars into it.
Qian Er opened the certificate of good citizen and looked at it, then looked at the carriage and said: "Wuyi's certificate of good citizen does not work in Taiyuan. What about sending five yuan to beggars? The goods in these carriages are worth at least three hundred yuan."
After saying that, he walked towards the carriage and said as he walked: "Search them all for me. I think these people are from the mountains and want to cause trouble in the city."
Zhou Weihan couldn't help but laugh after hearing this. If he really knew how to get money and cards, he would have hit the mark.
Zhou Weihan took out the samurai sword that was placed on the carriage, jumped down from the carriage, and cursed angrily: "Baga, you are dead, dead, dead." As he said this, he attacked several puppet soldiers who were about to search the carriage.
Pull away.
Qian Er was stunned. He covered his bleeding forehead and shouted, "Taijun, someone is making trouble."
Several little devils at the city gate saw the movement here and gathered around them one after another.
Ma Dazui in the team immediately shouted in Japanese: "It's a misunderstanding. It's our own people. We came here from Wuyi to do business."
It happened that a small group of Japs passed by in a car, and the leader, a second lieutenant officer, jumped off the tricycle with a command knife.
"What happened?"
The little devil guarding the city gate, Chief Cao, gave a military salute and said respectfully: "Report to Second Lieutenant Yoshida, several caravans said to be from Wuyi clashed with the Imperial Association Army guarding the city gate. They seem to be our own people.
I’m mediating!”
"One of our own?" Akira Yoshida became interested.
"Are you from Wuyi?" Yoshida Akijin asked in Japanese.
"Yes, we came to Taiyuan from Wuyi to do business?" Zhou Weihan replied in Japanese.
"Yo Xi, your accent seems to be from Cheung Chau?"
"My name is Eguchi Hideya. My ancestral home is in Changzhou. I came to China with my parents when I was young. Now I have even forgotten the local accent. How can you hear it?" Zhou Weihan said in a pretense of surprise.
Ito Masamoto, who taught Zhou Weihan Japanese, was from Changzhou, so Zhou Weihan also had some Changzhou accent.
"Eguchi-kun, this is Yoshida Akima, I am also from Changzhou. I really didn't expect to meet people from my hometown in China. What are you?" Yoshida Akima took Zhou Weihan's arm and said with excitement.
"I had some business cooperation with the local garrison chief Si Neiyong in Wuyi. China is rich in products. This time I came to Taiyuan just to pave the way, you know.
It's just that these Chinese people are too greedy. I didn't want to reveal my identity. After all, there are too many people who are enemies of us in China. I didn't expect the security in Taiyuan to be so bad." Zhou Weihan said and took out the official document approved by Isamu Terauchi.
Pass it to Yoshida Akima.
"Eguchi-kun, I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused you. Please don't mind." Yoshida Akima bowed and apologized. He turned around and took out his Southern Type 14 pistol and shot several puppet soldiers on the spot. Qian Er saw
He was so frightened that his face turned pale and he fainted.
"Eguchi-kun, don't let these Chinese trash disturb your mood."
Yoshida Aki was a member of the Taiyuan Military Police. Although his rank was only second lieutenant, his authority was very great. It was common for him to shoot a few puppet soldiers.
Zhou Weihan looked at the dead puppet soldiers and was really angry. However, their deaths were not unjust at all. They usually bullied people who came into the city. It was their usual trick to call it black or white.