Chapter 409: Penicillin Comes Out (Ask for a subscription, ask for a monthly pass, ask for everything!) ）

Ma Zheng obviously didn't know about this conversation between Aiko Sato and Sugiyama Moto, but at this time he was really worried about food. As Aiko Sato deduced, there was indeed a food crisis in the Suicha Military Region.

On the one hand, because the troops of the Suicha Military Region are constantly expanding, there is naturally a shortage of food that was originally planned. You must know that when the crops were ripe in October last year, the total strength of Ma Zheng's troops was only 50,000 or 60,000, and the number of political workers in each county was only 70,000.

However, in just six months, the number of soldiers under Ma Zheng's headquarters has expanded to more than 100,000, and in addition, local political power in various localities has been continuously established and improved, and the number of institutions and personnel has also grown rapidly. More importantly, the industrial construction of the Suicha Military Region is in full swing, and all kinds of factories have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and so far the number of industrial workers in the Suicha Military Region has exceeded 50,000.

The military, political workers, and industrial workers are all groups that do not engage in grain production, and at the same time they also have to consume a large amount of grain, so the military rations accumulated by the Suicha Military Region last year are about to bottom out.

What's more, it is now the end of March and almost April, and this time is the season of spring flowers in the north, and it will be the season of spring ploughing in half a month.

This is originally a good thing, the plan of the year lies in the spring, only when the seeds are sown in the spring, there will be a harvest in the autumn. However, the problem is that the territory of the Suicha Military Region has expanded several times this year, and if we count the newly conquered Zhangjiakou, the area under its jurisdiction will include the whole province of Chahar, the first part of Suiyuan, and the first part of Rehe, and there are more than 40 counties and districts under its jurisdiction, many of which have just experienced the devastation of war, and the common people do not even have any grain in their hands, including seeds.

In addition, with the continuous construction of the Suicha Military Region, the areas around Guisui and Baotou are not only safe and secure, but also full of recruiters, so many refugees from Shanxi, Hebei, and even Northeast China have poured into Guisui and Baotou, which has also aggravated the food crisis in the Suicha Military Region.

Originally, Ma Zheng didn't care, but when he found that the food of the troops was getting worse and worse, and even recently, the soldiers could only eat porridge and boiled potatoes after morning training, and the white flour buns and big meat buns were all gone, and there was no meat in the noon dishes, and only a few pieces of tofu could be seen when it was good.

Ma Zheng then asked Wang Hansen, who was in charge of logistics, and when he asked, he learned that the troops' food was almost exhausted, and according to the inventory, they could only last for a month at most, or even less.

Although the logistics department is actively contacting grain merchants in Shanxi and Shaanxi, there are wars everywhere, not to mention that grain is expensive, and it is also a strategic item strictly controlled by local governments, and small-scale sales are okay, but large-scale sales are not, so the grain purchased by the logistics department for more than half a month is only a few dozen tons, which is a drop in the bucket at all.

Limited by factors such as food and ammunition, after the troops captured Zhangjiakou, Ma Zheng ordered the Independent Brigade to stay in Zhangjiakou, and the Guard Brigade together with the artillery brigade and armored regiment withdrew to Xinghe, while he returned to Guisui with a large force.

It's been two months since I last left, and returning to Guisui again has a feeling that things are wrong. Compared with the last time I left, the Suicha Military Region at this time not only expanded its territory, but also had a lot more soldiers, which can be said to be a great gain.

As soon as he returned to Guisui, before his butt was hot, Ma Zheng was pulled by Li Lanqing to the laboratory of the rear hospital.

In the laboratory, Li Lanqing carefully took out a pinch of white powder to show Ma Zheng, his eyes full of excitement.

Ma Zheng naturally knew what these white powders were, this was penicillin after refining, thinking of the huge effect of this kind of thing, Ma Zheng immediately asked excitedly: "Is this really penicillin?" ”

"Well, that's what I extracted according to the method you provided, which is what you call penicillin!" Li Lanqing said with a smile.

"Has it been clinically tested?" Ma Zheng immediately asked.

"Well, I tried it, the effect is very good, this drug has a very obvious effect on wound inflammation, in 127 clinical trials, except for two cases of skin allergies, the rest have been successfully anti-inflammatory, and the cure rate has reached 97%." Li Lanqing replied.

"Good, very good! Is this a laboratory product or something that can be industrially produced on a large scale? Ma Zheng immediately asked.

"It's produced in a laboratory, but we've done experiments, and the technology is mature enough for large-scale industrial production." Li Lanqing replied.

"What about capacity? In our current situation, how much can the annual production capacity reach? Ma Zheng asked again.

Li Lanqing sighed and said: "This may not be very optimistic, I have communicated with Wang Hansen, with the current production capacity of our military region, it can produce up to 100 tons of penicillin per year!" ”

"A hundred tons?" Hearing this output, Ma Zheng's brows couldn't help frowning.

One hundred tons is too little and too little, and according to this output, I am afraid that even the Suicha Military Region itself will not be enough, not to mention that Ma Zheng still wants to use penicillin to conquer the world.

"Can we expand production capacity?" Ma Zheng asked again.

"Our conditions here are really poor, there is a shortage of many supplies, and 100 tons is already the limit. Unless we have our own chemical base, but this is unlikely! ”

Li Lanqing's words once again made Ma Zheng fall silent, and then Ma Zheng thought for a while and said, "Who knows about this now?" ”

"Except for you and me, there are only those doctors who participated in the experiment, and no one else knows, including Political Commissar Yun and Minister Wang!" Li Lanqing said.

"Well, from now on, you immediately guide the construction of our own penicillin production plant, and I will send someone to assist you, forget the rest, let's talk about the rest later!"

The successful extraction of penicillin is a very influential thing for Ma Zheng, and Ma Zheng does not want to say much about the contribution of penicillin to the world, so to speak, if there is no penicillin, at least tens of millions of people will die in World War II.

What's more, pneumonia and tuberculosis are still terminal diseases, and so far there is no drug in the world that can effectively treat these diseases. But penicillin can, not only that, penicillin is also extremely effective in the treatment of meningitis, endocarditis, diphtheria, anthrax and other diseases. It's like in the 21st century, when someone suddenly develops a drug that can effectively treat cancer and AIDS, it will inevitably cause a sensation in the world.

That's it, once penicillin is mass-produced, the economic benefits it can bring are amazing. Ma Zheng knew that when penicillin's mature product, penicillin, appeared on the battlefield, its value was comparable to the same weight of gold. That is to say, the Suicha Military Region produces 100 tons of penicillin a year, and if all of them are sold, it will be worth the equivalent of 100 tons of gold.

With such huge economic benefits, Ma Zheng will naturally not give up, and it has been 39 years now, and World War II will break out in a few months, and then the world will urgently need drugs for the treatment of surgical trauma.

However, my daughter-in-law also said just now that the industrial base of the Suicha Military Region is too weak, and there is no foundation for chemical production, so the production capacity is very limited, and it is probably impossible to use this production capacity to change the world, so we must find a way to turn the existing technological advantages into real money.

As for the specific method, Ma Zheng already has a general direction in his heart, but there is no perfect plan yet, so it cannot be implemented for the time being, not to mention that now that the war has just ended, the Japanese army may counterattack Zhangjiakou at any time, so for the time being, let Li Lanqing build the Suicha Military Region's own pharmaceutical factory, and then talk about the rest!

But in any case, the successful development of penicillin allowed Ma Zheng to see a shortcut to quickly improve the Eighth Route Army, as long as the operation is good, the strength of the Eighth Route Army will inevitably increase significantly, and perhaps China's War of Resistance does not need eight years to end successfully. (To be continued.) )