Xiao Zhenlei's visit to the firearms factory made Xiao Zhenlei very excited, and then he came to the ammunition factory, which was completely different from before, not only the scale has been expanded several times, but the production efficiency has also been greatly improved.

Since the end of the Northern Expedition, Xiao Zhenlei instructed the ammunition factory not only to expand the scale of production, but also to improve production efficiency, he didn't know before, but after the last Northern Expedition, he had an obvious concept of ammunition consumption, hundreds of thousands of bullets, or even millions of bullets look quite large, but when it comes to the real war, such a large number of bullets will soon be consumed, and the same is true for shells and grenades, which can't withstand long-term consumption, if you want to keep a sufficient supply of ammunition during the war, It is necessary to have sufficient ammunition reserves, and production must be able to keep up with consumption, so it is urgent to expand the scale of military production.

After receiving Xiao Zhenlei's instructions, the ammunition factory immediately took action, expanding its scale sixfold within three months, and its production efficiency increased by more than 30 percent after the transformation of the production line.

The director of the ammunition factory has long been replaced, now called Zhen Zhihua, after Xiao Zhenlei came, he has been accompanying him, explaining in detail the various production links on the assembly line production line.

Xiao Zhenlei asked as he walked: "In just three months, the scale has expanded sixfold, how is the proficiency of the workers operating the machine?" Can you still keep up with the speed of the machine? ”

Zhen Zhihua said: "At first, I definitely couldn't keep up, but after a period of adaptation, now I can basically meet the requirements, I think these production lines can continue to improve production efficiency, I am organizing people to study, but there is no tension for the time being!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei affirmed: "This is very good." The research of technology can not be stopped at any time, and we must have the spirit of innovation in technology, and we cannot always use other people's, and other people's are always someone else's. Aren't we going to catch blindness? Will it fall behind technologically?

Also, I think you should set up a gunpowder research department, and now there are two types of propellants, and explosives, right? So can you find a way to increase the power of this gunpowder? In the beginning, it was black powder, right? And then? The power of gunpowder is getting bigger and bigger, and the stability is getting better and better, which is all technological innovation, and we in China just invented gunpowder. But it is the foreigners who carry it forward, and they have already surpassed us as a master, shouldn't we be ashamed? ”

Zhen Zhihua hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, the president's instructions are very important, and I will hold a high-level meeting of the factory next." Discuss this matter! ”

Just after the last production link of a bullet production line, Xiao Zhenlei grabbed a bullet from the wooden box next to him, which was a 7.92 mm caliber rifle bullet, he looked at these bullets, frowned and said: "It seems that it is still a little bit close, this warhead still needs to be polished, you see, such a bullet shuttles through the air." The resistance of the air must be very large, and after polishing, its surface will be smoother, which can reduce the friction of the air. Let it fly faster and farther, of course, this kind of warhead with a rough surface may be more destructive to the target, if it can make the bullet shoot farther and more destructive, you still need to test it! ”

Zhen Zhihua promised: "Yes." We will make improvements according to the president's instructions! ”

Xiao Zhenlei waved his hand and said, "Don't let me say anything, you can do it." These things should be considered by the person in charge of the factory, and a technical department should be set up for these technical things. To do these things, there must be a dedicated person in charge of technical issues! ”

"Understood, understood!"

The situation of the artillery factory is similar to that of the ammunition factory, but after the introduction of special steel, the quality and performance of the mountain guns and howitzers produced by the artillery factory have been greatly improved, and they have caught up with the German artillery.

The production scale of the artillery factory has also increased several times, and there has been a big breakthrough in the production technology, the most difficult place in the production of artillery lies in the barrel, according to Krupp's production method is to drill holes in the large steel block, and hollow out the large steel block from it, so as to form a seamless steel pipe, in this era, this production method is the best way to produce the barrel, and then polish and polish the barrel after drilling, and depict rifling, these processes are extremely cumbersome, but there is no way, and the current technology can only do this process.

Xiao Zhenlei called Zhou Dachun, the director of the artillery factory, over while visiting: "Now that the scale of your artillery factory is up, the next step is to innovate the production technology, to study more by yourself, and strive to improve the artillery production technology, in addition, there is another task next, try to produce naval guns, especially large-caliber naval guns, such as the naval guns of the twin battery and the naval guns of the triple turret, in the future, China will always have to build its own naval ships, if the ship is built, but can not produce naval guns, then what is the use of the ship?" So now we have to put forward the problem, and then solve it, only when we master the technology, we can produce at any time, without being controlled by others! ”

Zhou Dachun didn't know much about naval artillery, and asked: "I know naval artillery, but what are these twin and triple guns?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei was stunned for a moment, and then said, "You know that naval guns have a turret, right?" ”

"Yes, with this turret, the ship's guns can adjust the firing angle, the maximum turning can be 180 degrees, the muzzle can be raised, lowered, left and right, etc.!"

Xiao Zhenlei nodded and said: "Yes, the twin naval guns are to install two naval guns on the same turret, and the muzzles of these two naval guns also have the function of downward and left and right adjustment, and the triple installation is to install three naval guns on the same turret." However, whether to install a twin gun or a triple gun on the ship, it is determined according to the bearing capacity of the hull, if the hull can only withstand the double gun, you have to install the triple gun, once the gun is fired, the deck of the ship may be deformed by the recoil of the gun. So what's the difference between a twin and a triplet? This, of course, is different, with the development of ships, the larger the caliber of the ship's guns, the more powerful they are. But due to the bearing capacity of the ship, the number of large-caliber naval guns on ships is becoming less and less, which reduces the output of fire, and in the same direction, of course, the number of naval guns increases. The denser the firepower output, the more powerful it is, so Western countries came up with the idea of installing two or three naval guns on the same turret, which can save the space occupied by the naval guns, which is the origin of the twin and triple installations! ”

Zhou Dachun nodded and said: "I understand, but we are blind to the production of these two types of naval guns." We've only seen a foreign warship from a distance before, but we've never seen it up close, so we don't know what its internal structure looks like, so we don't know where to start."

Xiao Zhenlei waved his hand and said: "You don't have to worry about this, the navy is recently organizing a group of people to go to the US Navy for training and study." When the time comes, you can make a report, apply for a few places, and send a few people to visit and study on the American warships, and the relevant technical information on the production of naval guns will be sent over soon, and this situation must be kept secret, and you can study it after you get the information, but you can't rely on the gourd to draw a scoop, and you must thoroughly study and produce our own naval guns! ”

Zhou Dachun hurriedly said: "President." I understand! ”

With China's current situation, Xiao Zhenlei also knows that the navy wants to grow up, and he doesn't know how long it will take to rely on his own research technology. The only quickest and most effective way is to carry out the doctrine of take-it-or-leave-it, buy or steal the ship-building technology of the great powers, and then send technicians to thoroughly understand these technologies, and after a certain number of improvements, form their own technology, so that it is possible to catch up with the great powers.

Therefore. Xiao Zhenlei had already instructed Wang Yaqiao to set up an overseas intelligence department. The Overseas Intelligence Unit is divided into three parts, one of which is the Commercial Intelligence Investigation Division. That is, it is mainly to steal the advanced technology of overseas countries, and the first thing is to steal the advanced military technology of foreign countries. Second, the Military Intelligence Investigation Department is mainly engaged in reconnaissance and observation of military developments of various countries, the updating of weapons and equipment, the personnel files and changes of high-level military personnel, and the transfer of troops. Third, the Political and Economic Intelligence Investigation Department conducts all-round investigations and evaluations of the political and economic affairs of various countries, and reports at any time.

After a day in the artillery factory, Xiao Zhenlei then went to the Jiangnan Shipyard, some time ago he had ordered the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and the Jiangnan Shipyard to be separated, and in the future, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was only responsible for the production of weapons and ammunition, and the Jiangnan Shipyard was only responsible for the construction of ships.

The director of Jiangnan Shipyard is still Zhang Shiheng, after Xiao Zhenlei came, he sent someone to find Fu Kangnian, the new general manager of the steamship China Merchants Bureau, and the official held a considerable part of the shares in the steamship China Merchants Bureau, after the fall of the Qing court, the shares belonging to the official were of course taken over by Xiao Zhenlei's East China Governor's Office, although Yuan Shikai was greedy, but there was no way, his power could not reach Shanghai. Xiao Zhenlei and personally appointed the general manager, and Fu Kangnian took office under such circumstances, he was a member of the iron-blooded National Salvation Party, upright and selfless, and did things without human feelings.

Xiao Zhenlei just valued the fact that he never talked about personal relationships in his work, and made him the general manager of China Merchants Steamship, which was to use him to carry out strict rectification in China Merchants Steamship and dismiss the management and staff who did not work at leisure, but all those who entered the China Merchants Steamship through the back door were all eliminated as long as they were messing around, because the China Merchants Steamship was dragged down because of the existence of these people, and these not only did not do things, but also occupied an important position, not only hindering those who can work and can work, And it hindered the development of the steamship China Merchants Bureau.

In the rectification, the major shareholder Sheng Xuanhuai suffered the most losses, and his people in the steamship China Merchants Bureau were almost cleaned up, so he also came to Xiao Zhenlei to discuss the law, but Xiao Zhenlei sent him away with only one sentence, so that he never dared to mention this matter again, that is, where did Sheng Xuanhuai's shares in the steamship China Merchants come from? Where did he get that much money to buy shares? Do you want to investigate? For this point, Xiao Zhenlei is very clear that when the Qing Dynasty fell, Sheng Xuanhuai used his identity to transfer the shares of many government-run enterprises or government-supervised commercial enterprises into his own name. He also saw that Sheng Xuanhuai was a lot older, and this person had also made a lot of contributions to China's early industrial development, at least some of the schools founded by this person had cultivated a lot of talents, just for the sake of these achievements, he also decided to let Sheng Xuanhuai go, and no longer pursue Sheng Xuanhuai's transfer of some government assets to his private name, but if Sheng Xuanhuai wants to make trouble, he will definitely not be polite, Sheng Xuanhuai is also a person who knows the importance and can see the general trend clearly, He knows that only Yuan Shikai and Xiao Zhenlei are qualified to compete for the world in China now, Yuan Shikai used to be his political enemy, he can't go to Yuan Shikai again, and Xiao Zhenlei is a junior, of course he can't work for Xiao Zhenlei, so he can only start a residence in Shanghai.

Xiao Zhenlei walked in the dock, accompanied by Zhang Shiheng, Fu Kangnian and others, he saw a ship being built in the dock and asked, "What kind of ship is this building?" ”

Zhang Shiheng said: "President, this is a small steamer of 600 tons, which can sail on the river or offshore!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei looked at this dock again and asked, "How big is the tonnage of this dock?" ”

"Three thousand tons!"

"Is the largest dockyard here only 3,000 tons?"

Zhang Shiheng was surprised: "Yes, president, you ask what this is??????? ”

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and asked, "How many ships and how many tonnage has this Jiangnan Shipyard built since it was built?" ”

Zhang Shiheng recalled: "There should be about 136 ships, and the total tonnage is about 21,000 tons!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei actually knows a little more about the China Merchants Steamship Bureau, after all, the China Merchants Steamship Bureau is only an official supervision and business office, while the Jiangnan Shipyard is completely government-run and subject to too many constraints, and the shipbuilding tonnage of the China Merchants Steamship Bureau is much larger than that of the Jiangnan Shipyard, but the experience of shipbuilding is less.

Xiao Zhenlei said: "After building so many ships, although the total tonnage is not large, after all, the number is here, which shows that your shipbuilding experience is still very rich, and you will have to take on more responsibilities in the future." In this way, on behalf of the Navy, I will issue an order to each of your two shipyards for two light cruisers, the tonnage must reach 3,000 tons or more, if the tonnage of the dock is not enough, find a way for yourself, either expand the dock, or rebuild the dock that can accommodate larger tonnage, in short, within two years, these four cruisers must be built and delivered, what exactly are the four light cruisers to be manufactured, Your ship design department should do its best to come up with the design drawings and discuss them with the people in the navy! Time does not wait for me, those who used to eat dry food, do not do things, and mess around are all cleaned up for me, as long as the people who work, now it is a new era, and the new era must have a new atmosphere, and those outdated people can no longer be in the way! ”

"Yes, understood!" Zhang Shiheng and Fu Kangnian hurriedly agreed, and at the same time they were also very happy in their hearts, these two shipyards have never designed and manufactured warships of up to 3,000 tons, and no shipyard in the whole of China has had this kind of experience, this is the first time in the world, although this honor is very glorious, but the pressure is also huge, and it is not so easy to complete this task. (To be continued) R580