Because of the arrival of the Ninth Vertical and Third Regiment of the Young Student Death Corps, Xu Rui's mood was generally good, but Chairman Jiang was in a very bad mood after knowing the news.

Chairman Jiang had just decided to make a deal with Xu Rui and exchange more than 100 pieces of equipment from the Jinling Arsenal for more than 100 large-caliber heavy artillery pieces in Xu Rui's hands, but after learning the news that the Ninth Column and the Third Regiment of the Young Students' Death Corps had crossed the Dabie Mountains and arrived at the front line in Feicheng, Chairman Jiang decided to add a condition.

Half an hour later, Gu Shutong, the former deputy commander-in-chief of the enemy, received a telegram from Chairman Chiang.

"The deal is feasible, the equipment of the Jinling Arsenal can be handed over to the Independent Regiment, but in addition to the more than 160 heavy artillery pieces that have been captured, the Independent Regiment also needs to hand over more than 100 heavy trucks that have been captured, and the 3rd Regiment of the 9th Column of the Young Student Death Corps that has just arrived at the front line in Feicheng will be sent back to Wuhan?"

After listening to the adjutant read the telegram, Gu Shutong couldn't help but show a wry smile on his face.

"Well, the deal has been blown." Gu Shutong said to Wanxiangyun, "Don't talk about it anymore, it's in vain." ”

Wan Xiangyun shook his head and said: "Boss, let's talk about it anyway, as for whether it will succeed or not, it is not your business and mine, and the old man also has something to say." ”

Gu Shutong said: "It's okay, then turn the old man's conditions around." ”

Wan Xiangyun immediately took the telegram and conveyed Chairman Jiang's conditions to Xu Rui.

In just a moment, Xu Rui's reply arrived at the former enemy's general headquarters, and what made Gu Shu agree was that Xu Rui was not annoyed and angry, but only put forward new conditions.

Xu Rui made it clear in his reply that Chairman Chiang's conditions were unacceptable to the Independent Regiment, but the bargaining chips of the transaction could be appropriately reduced, and the Hanyang Arsenal could not be exchanged, and it was also possible to exchange the Jinling Arsenal, but as compensation, in addition to all the equipment of the Jinling Arsenal, an additional 100 skilled technicians were required.

After getting Xu Rui's callback, Gu Shutong smiled bitterly at Wan Xiangyun and said: "I only knew that Xu Rui was very good at fighting before, but today I know that this kid is even more of a profiteer, and he is also a good hand at doing business, the old man wants to take advantage of Xu Rui, but he miscalculated, look, the old man will definitely agree in the end." ”

Wan Xiangyun shook his head and said, "What is this called, stealing chickens can't be a handful of rice?" ”

As Gu Shutong expected, Chairman Chiang finally decided to make a deal, for the simple reason that the Hanyang Arsenal could also produce Makqin heavy machine guns, and the output was much larger than that of the Jinling Arsenal, and in fact, due to the shortage of steel, the production capacity of the Hanyang Arsenal was not maximized.

In other words, the Jinling Arsenal is not indispensable.

However, the more than 160 large-caliber heavy howitzers in Xu Rui's hands could not be built from either the Hanyang Arsenal or the Jinling Arsenal.

As a matter of fact, the military industry of the Nationalist Government is also the manufacture of light weapons, and 82mm caliber mortars have reached the top, and larger caliber artillery must be imported.

This is not because China does not have outstanding military talents, nor because there is no equipment, but because China could not make artillery steel for making artillery at that time, and at that time, China had almost no decent industry, let alone heavy industry, and even light industry did not make any achievements, and the bristle industry and textile industry were already regarded as pillar industries.

Yes, the bristle industry, you read that right, the bristles were also a strategic material in the world at that time.

At that time, China had the largest bristle industry in the world, but the Nationalist Government also had this industry.

In contrast, in the first five-year plan, New China basically built a complete range of heavy industries, not only trucks and artillery could be domestically produced, but even airplanes could be taken to the skies.

The same country, the same people, the same poor and white, Chairman Chiang inherited from the Beiyang government even more than the Communist Party, but why is there such a sharp contrast in the achievements of building the country? Is it really because Chairman Chiang's ability is too poor to engage in industry?

Obviously not, no matter how incompetent Chairman Chiang is, is there not a few high-level staff members?

No matter how strong Chairman Mao's ability is, it is impossible for him to conquer the world alone, and he still needs the assistance of others.

There is only one reason for such a sharp contrast, that is, when Chairman Chiang was in power, the financial comprador class, which controlled the lifeblood of China's economy at that time, did not want China to develop heavy industry, because if China had heavy industry, they would no longer be able to earn huge economic benefits by acting as compradors of Western countries.

To give an example, if China had a heavy industry at that time and could manufacture qualified long-range fortress guns, would Minister Kong still be able to make a lot of money by importing scrap guns from Italy and shoddy? As another example, if China had an arms industry at that time, would Minister Song still be able to make a lot of money by importing large quantities of weapons from the United States? Apparently impossible!

This is the same reason as the dismount of the new China Movement 10 in later generations, which is determined by the nature of the comprador class.

The difference is that in the old China the comprador class was the ruling class, but in the new China, the comprador class is the target of repression.

To get back to the point, because China at that time could not make heavy artillery, and the Nationalist Government could not buy it from the West with real money, and it was too late in time, so Chairman Jiang had no way to ignore the more than 100 heavy artillery pieces that Xu Rui had captured from the little devil, and he had to get it at any cost.

As a result, Chairman Chiang paid an extra 100 skilled workers for this purpose.

This is really as Wanxiangyun said, it is really a handful of rice that is not a mistake in stealing chickens.

The deal was reached, and the Nationalist Government sent a convoy from Wuhan to Anqing overnight to prepare to receive this batch of heavy artillery, and Xu Rui also sent a battalion to take a truck to escort this batch of heavy artillery to Anqing, which was not only for safety, but also to prevent the Nationalist Army, so as not to be blackened by the Nationalist Government and greedy for his heavy artillery.

Facts have proved that Xu Rui's move is really necessary.

Less than 400 miles from Feicheng to Anqing, the convoy of the Independent Regiment arrived in Anqing before noon the next day.

The 26th Group Army stationed in Anqing wanted to receive supplies, but He Guangming, who led the team, refused without hesitation, and then the two sides fell into a confrontation, and it was not until the early morning of the third day that the convoy that came from Wuhan to receive heavy artillery finally arrived in Anqing, and at the same time, more than 100 pieces of equipment and more than 100 skilled workers from the Jinling Arsenal were transported with the car.

After the delivery was completed, He Guangming immediately returned with the equipment and workers the same way.

At this time, the Nationalist Army did not embarrass the people of the Independent Regiment, first, because it was now the cooperation of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and if the Independent Regiment was disarmed rashly, it would inevitably attract protests and counterattacks from the Communist Party, and it would not be good once public opinion was formed to crusade against them, and second, the battalion of the Independent Regiment was extremely vigilant, so that the Nationalist Army did not dare to act rashly.

It happened to be a rainy day, and the convoy had a thrilling journey back to Feicheng.

Xu Rui personally took Qiu Feng, Wang Husheng, Leng Tiefeng and several battalion commanders to greet him outside the city.

For the independent regiment or the Dameishan base area, these more than 100 pieces of equipment are of great significance, with this batch of equipment, they will continue to produce Makqin heavy machine guns, and if some machine tools and equipment are properly introduced, the production of Mauser rifles, bullets and so on will not be a problem.

With its own arsenal, the Independent Regiment is really worthy of hard words.

Opening the car door, He Guangming jumped down from the passenger seat of the first truck and saluted Xu Rui.

"Lao He, it's been hard all the way." Xu Rui returned the military salute and said with a smile, "There are no moths, right?" ”

It's not that Xu Rui has to spend the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain, but as a traverser, Xu Rui knows too well how deep Chairman Jiang's jealousy of the Communist Party is, as long as there is a chance, Chairman Jiang will never mind yin the Communist Party, so Xu Rui is worried that there will be a moth in this transaction.

He Guangming said: "At least there is no problem with the equipment, I have checked it carefully." ”

"What about the personnel?" Xu Rui's eyes turned to the "skilled workers" who jumped down from the back trucks, and a bad premonition immediately floated in his heart, because these "skilled workers" were dull-eyed, and their faces were full of earthy smell, no matter how they looked like workers in the arsenal, they couldn't be fake, right?

Zheng Jiakang himself was born in the military industry, and when he heard that the independent regiment was going to receive a batch of machinery and equipment, he also came over to take a look, Zheng Jiakang originally wanted to see the machine, but before the machine was seen, he first saw the skilled workers, and when he saw this group of "skilled workers" who had just gotten off the car, Zheng Jiakang immediately shook his head.

Xu Rui happened to see Zheng Jiakang shaking his head, and immediately asked, "What, do you think there is a problem?" ”

"It's not that there's a problem, it's that they're not workers at all." Zheng Jiakang shook his head and said, "If you don't believe me, I can ask them a few questions on the spot to see if they can answer them." ”

Xu Rui asked He Guangming to bring one of the workers up, and Zheng Jiakang asked: "Let me ask you, how to ensure the parallelism of the two end faces when processing a ring?" ”

The worker looked straight at Zheng Jiakang, his face dazed.

Zheng Jiakang waved his hand to change workers, and then asked: "Can the lathe be threaded?" ”

The second worker was also at a loss, and he couldn't even answer this most basic and simple question, and now, Xu Rui completely understood what was going on.

He Guangming was immediately furious, and took out his pistol in one fell swoop.

The two "workers" also seemed to realize that they had been recognized, so they knelt on the ground and cried and said: "Boss, it's none of our business, it's the boss over there who asked us to pretend to be workers, it's really none of our business, please don't shoot us, our family is old and young, we can't die."

Xu Rui motioned to He Guangming to put away the pistol, and then said, "Give each person two yuan for the journey, let them go home." ”

Xu Rui naturally wouldn't compete with this honest farmer, so he looked back at Zheng Jiakang and said, "What's your name?" Seems to know a lot, huh? ”

"My name is Zheng Jiakang, and I worked at the Hanyang Arsenal before." Zheng Jiakang said lightly.

Xu Rui heard a trace of hidden pride from Zheng Jiakang's faint tone, and said at the moment: "If I guessed correctly, you are definitely not an ordinary worker." ”