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Chapter 4** A Difficult Breakthrough

February 2, 18th year of the Republic of China, Nanjing, General Headquarters of the Revolutionary Army. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The light snow slowly stopped at nightfall, and the three-day military conference at and above the division level of the Central Army also came to an end, and the topics on army building, suppressing bandits, and implementing the spirit of the reorganization and dispatch meeting were discussed one by one.

After the group meal, Chiang Kai-shek called An Yi, who was packing up his official documents and preparing to leave, to go to the commander-in-chief's office with him, and continued to hold a meeting with Yu Feipeng, director of the Quartermaster General's Department, Chen Yi, director of the Ordnance Industry Administration, and more than 20 chief and deputy chiefs of various departments of the General Headquarters to once again discuss the "weapons and equipment rectification plan" put forward by An Yi at the beginning of the year and unify the weapons and equipment system so as to reduce the logistical burden and improve the army's combat effectiveness and the production efficiency of the arsenal.

The lengthy discussion began again, the fourth in a month and a half, and the participants had expressed their views and had not been able to reach a consensus.

What is a headache is that at present, only the Shanghai Arsenal, the Jinling Arsenal, and the Nanchang Jiangnan Arsenal, which have artillery production capacity, are in the hands of the central government, and the Shenyang Arsenal, the largest in China, is self-contained and is still in the hands of the Northeast Army after the change of banner; The Hanyang factory, whose strength has been greatly reduced, has been occupied by the Gui system, and now even the production of rifle bullets is a problem; Although the Taiyuan plant, which is increasing in production, is Yan Xishan's private industry, and although it has successfully copied the 120 artillery pieces and the technically complex American-made Thomson machine gun, more than half of the Taiyuan plant's products are different from the current system of the Central Army. Under Feng Yuxiang's attention, the Gongxian Arsenal in Henan Province made rapid progress, but the equipment was outdated and there was a shortage of talents, and it did not further improve except for imitation German-made grenades, the monthly production of 120 9mm machine guns, and 1,300 Hanyang rifles; Under the management of Li Jishen, the Guangzhou Arsenal improved slightly, but due to technical and equipment reasons, it was still unable to cast cannons, and its production capacity of 50,000 rounds of ammunition per month needed to be strengthened urgently; Other enterprises, such as the Tianjin Tanggu Ordnance Factory, the Chongqing Repair Institute, the Hengyang Ordnance Factory, and the Changsha Ordnance Institute, have been suspended, and the two sets of heavy machine gun production equipment and anti-Czech light machine gun production equipment of the Dagu Plant have been dismantled and transported back to Taiyuan by Yan Xishan.

In addition to the uniform caliber of imitation German-made rifles, all the above factories have their own work, coupled with the random import of military forces in various places, so that the weapons and equipment of the revolutionary army have become disorganized and made in all countries, and the central government just wants to supply some guns and shells It has become a problem, under An Yi's continuous appeal, this situation finally attracted the attention of Chiang Kai-shek and the Central Military and Political Departments, but everyone's understanding is almost different, each has its own preferences, and each has its own habits, which makes An Yi feel distressed with all his tongue. Therefore, after the second panel discussion, An Yi simply didn't say anything, smoked silently, and watched and listened quietly, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

"General An, tell me your opinion, at present, in addition to Zhang Hanqing's Shenyang Factory, your Jiangnan Factory is the largest, the most advanced equipment, and the most comprehensive technology, if you look at the number of employees and the development trend of more than 5,000 people in the Jiangnan Factory, you already have the ability to surpass the Shenyang Factory, and it will become the largest arsenal in the country in less than a year, so you have the most right to speak."

General Chen Yi, director of the Ordnance Industry Administration, saw the participants arguing endlessly, and finally couldn't help but name An Yi.

An Yi extinguished the cigarette butt and smiled slightly: "I have said everything that should be said, and I have done what should be done, and the inspection and analysis reports of various weapons in the Jiangnan Factory have also been delivered to the Ordnance Industry Bureau one after another, and it is clear which is better and which is inferior, but you don't want to take a look at the data that Chinese and foreign experts in the Jiangnan Factory have worked so hard to make, and you don't want to listen to the complaints of the grassroots officers and soldiers, I can't help it."

To tell you the truth, after the end of the last meeting, I had in-depth discussions with Major General Shi Lejun, director of the Jiangnan Factory, Major General Lao Shoudao, director of the Jiangnan Factory, Major General Kong Zechuan, director of the Ordnance Research Institute, and experts from various departments, and finally reached a consensus that no other models of bullets will be produced except for the 9x57 machine rifle general-purpose bullet and the 9x25 Mauser pistol cartridge that can be used for barge guns, imitation American-made Colt military pistols, and Zhongzheng 1 machine guns.

At present, the Zhongzheng-1 machine gun, which has been sent to Germany for firearms experts to improve its shape, has also abandoned the 7.62 caliber caliber and switched to 9-mm Mauser pistol cartridges in order to reduce weight and increase accuracy; the imitation method of the Bayi mortar will continue to be produced after improving the sights and mounts; and the 120 and 60 mortars, which have purchased technology and equipment from Germany, have also been successfully put into trial production and will soon begin mass production. In the future, the Jiangnan plant will no longer produce the three series of mortars of the 82, 75, and 65 series and the nine corresponding shells, so as to increase production and improve production efficiency.

The imitation of the new 75 field guns, mountain guns, and six types of artillery shells transferred by the German Rheinland and Krupp companies is still being carried out under the leadership of German and Belgian experts, and it is estimated that it will take three months for them to be officially put into production after passing the inspection and acceptance. From this month onwards, in addition to the guns and shells of the above specifications, the different ammunition needs of each army can only be solved by themselves, and it is really difficult for the Jiangnan Plant to afford such a complicated supply of ammunition, sorry! ”

Everyone was in an uproar, they didn't expect An Yi to come to such a hand, Chiang Kai-shek got An Yi's report in advance and agreed with the decision of the Jiangnan Factory, so he behaved very calmly.

The venue quieted down, and Chen Yi asked worriedly: "An Yi, what should you do with the original equipment of the various armies?" ”

"Replace! Otherwise, the logistical pressure is very high. An Yi replied without hesitation, and Quartermaster Yu Feipeng echoed loudly and said yes, Chen Yi glanced around and didn't say anything more.

Seeing Chiang Kai-shek nodding, An Yi smiled and continued: "Don't be surprised, the weapons currently used by the fourteen divisions of our Central Army are basically the same, and there is no big problem, the independent division, the first division, the second division, the third division, and the ninth division have successively eliminated Russian-made rifles after the end of the Northern Expedition, and replaced them with the 24-type Mauser rifles imported from Germany in batches, as well as the kar98K imitation German-made rifles and imitation 24-style Mauser rifles produced by the Jiangnan Factory, and we already have important technologies such as the detection molds of the two firearms, The production process and accuracy have been greatly improved, and it has been proved that the indicators are not lower than those made in the Czech Republic and Belgium, and there is no comparison between Hanyang.

Second, most of the shell guns originally equipped by our army were 9 mm caliber of the German export type, and the 7.63 caliber and 11.43 caliber barge guns copied in China were generally used in the Northwest Army and the Jinsui Army, and our Central Army had very little equipment, so with the current output of the Jiangnan Factory, it could basically meet the ammunition requirements of the 14 divisions, and the output would be doubled after half a year. The Eighth and Twelfth Divisions are currently replacing equipment in batches from battalion to battalion because of the crackdown on banditry, and General Xia Bingling's 13th Division has also made a plan to replace equipment; in order to reduce the burden on each division, the Jiangnan Factory has dealt with two old weapons in exchange for one new weapon; and the other divisions, due to their own reasons, have not communicated with the Jiangnan Factory to coordinate the purchase or replacement of equipment. The difficulty lies in the fact that the divisions are equipped with nearly 2,000 mortars of different calibers, and in addition to the imported French-made Bayi mortars, mortars of other calibers still need imported shells, which should be gradually replaced within a year, otherwise it will be difficult to improve combat effectiveness and reduce the heavy burden on logistics. ”

According to General An's report, it takes 18 months for our Central Army and the local garrison units belonging to the headquarters to complete the redress, and this is only calculated based on 200,000 soldiers, and the expenditure of only the replacement of military uniforms and the addition of steel helmets will cost no less than 8 million yuan. ”

Therefore, in order to reduce the number of troops, the decisions made jointly by the redeployment meeting must be implemented as soon as possible, and after the redeployment of the various armies is completed, the central authorities will only bear the military expenses of the total number of 1.2 million officers and men, and will not give them any more. This time, in order to carry out the task of reorganization, the central authorities discussed it repeatedly, and only yesterday they passed the issuance of 50 million yuan of public bonds for redeployment and used the money to dismiss the extra 1 million troops; however, the Gui faction, the Northwest Army, and the Jin Sui Army all controlled the local tax administration, obstructed the central government officials and tax officials from stationing in the provinces, and set up clever pretexts to expropriate and extort money in order to enrich themselves, and did their own thing in disregard of the central government's decrees. Therefore, I agree with General An Yi's plan, starting with the Central Army, to change its outfit and proceed in batches, giving priority to the troops loyal to the Central Army, and the other armies to see their performance.

Second, with the current national strength, it will take at least five years for the whole army to complete the renewal of its equipment, otherwise it will seriously affect the national economy, and the high debts will outweigh the losses. You should be mentally prepared to overcome difficulties and look farther. Chiang Kai-shek said loudly.

Chiang Kai-shek, who had not expressed his position at the previous three meetings, finally spoke, and when the generals heard this decisive word, they immediately ended the debate and closed their mouths to savor the deep meaning of Chiang Kai-shek's words.

Chiang Kai-shek's remarks seem to take into account the overall situation for the sake of the country and the people, but in fact he only considers his own army, and although he promised to give the 1.2 million troops after the national reorganization will be redressed in batches, the sentence "the central army will give priority, and the other armies will look at their performance" is different; as long as the Gui Army, the Northwest Army, and the Jin Sui Army do not hand over their territory and power for a day and accept the direct leadership of the central authorities, Chiang Kai-shek will not consider the redressing affairs of these troops for a single day, and will not allocate a penny of military spending.

Judging from the current situation, the contradictions between the Gui faction and the central authorities are becoming more and more acute, and a war may break out at any time for various interests in the Yangtze River valley; Chiang Kai-shek has made full preparations for this; as early as September last year, he secretly paid a sum of money for his five descendants, so that the independent, first, second, third, and ninth divisions of the independent division quickly completed the renewal of weapons and equipment; at the beginning of this year, at the suggestion of An Yi, he quickly unified the equipment system of the various divisions of the descendant lineage, increased the number of artillery, and gradually replaced them with new combat uniforms. The purpose of buying new steel helmets, shoes and hats is very obvious, that is, to quickly defeat the Gui family and recover the rich Lianghu region.

All the generals are well aware that although the Jiangnan Arsenal is a centrally-controlled enterprise, An Yi still occupies an important position with 20 percent of the shares, and in addition, almost all of the Jiangnan Factory's directors, from the factory director to the workers, are An Yi's people, and the working group of the Ordnance Industry Administration cannot influence the Jiangnan Factory's decision at all.

At the end of last year, the Jiangnan Factory's output of 1 August mortars surpassed that of the Shanghai Arsenal, which provided drawings and technology, and reached the capacity of producing 200 guns and 5,000 shells per month; since the beginning of this year, the Jiangnan Factory has greatly increased its output on the basis of a monthly output of 3,000 rifles, 500 Zhongzheng-1 machine guns, 1,000 light machine guns, 200 heavy machine guns, 500 Colts and Mauser shell guns, 450 boxes of hand grenades, and 250,000 rounds of ammunition of various types.

After purchasing relevant German technology and introducing new types of artillery, mortars, and corresponding artillery shells production equipment and technology, the scale and output of the Jiangnan plant have been doubled, relying on the Jiangnan agricultural machinery factory, smelter, hardware factory, foundry and other supporting factories distributed in the old Nanchang area, a relatively complete military industrial chain has been formed, and within a year, it will become the largest military industrial enterprise in the country and the largest supplier of weapons and ammunition to the army, and the Ministry of Finance and the customs of the central government will fully implement the new tariff system from the first of this month. Import tariffs will be imposed heavily to make up for the fiscal deficit that has been high for several years, and imports of arms will be strictly controlled and high tariffs will be levied.

Considering these important reasons, as well as the support of Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek, Quartermaster General Yu Feipeng, Minister of Industry and Commerce Kong Xiangxi, Minister of Organization Chen Lifu, Zhang Jingjiang, Cai Yuanpei, Zhu Peide and other veterans for An Yi, the generals no longer insisted on their own opinions, and in the subsequent meeting, they all passed the "weapons and equipment rectification case" proposed by An Yi and sorted out and polished by Chen Yi, director of the Ordnance Industry Administration. Although it is very difficult to take this step, An Yi understands that as long as this step is taken, the national arsenals will eventually follow suit, and the efforts of several years will greatly improve the equipment conditions and combat effectiveness of the army, enhance the efficiency of the military logistics department, and promote the rapid development of the country's military industrial enterprises, and the huge benefits and positive effects brought by this are incalculable.

There is also an important benefit, including Chiang Kai-shek, everyone does not know, An Yi exchanged for the old guns secretly arrived in Sichuan and Xiangxi in batches, including Liu Xiang, including Liu Xiang, the big buyers have become An Yi's customers, all over Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Hunan The local rich and powerful and even the peasant Red Guards are all in love with the old guns after the refurbishment of the Jiangnan factory, and the price is thirty percent lower than the original price so that An Yi can earn huge profits, so far the vast market demand in the southwest is strong, and if you want to buy this refurbished gun, you have to pay a deposit of three percent two months in advance. As for the bullets, they will soon be produced in the nest of the 44th Army in Zhang Hongluan, Qiancheng, Xiangxi, and the two production lines eliminated by the Jiangnan Plant have been quietly transported to Xiangxi and installed and debugged, just waiting for the gunpowder factory, hardware factory and other small factories related to bullets to be built, and using the existing resources in Xiangxi, Guizhou and southern Sichuan, it will be able to produce a large number of bullets of various specifications, and then develop and grow step by step, becoming another military product manufacturing base in Anyi's development plan.